G07: Beyond the Standard Model II

Thu. April 4, 11:09 a.m. – 11:21 a.m. PDT

Ballroom A9, Floor 2

The Standard Model (SM) of particle physics explains many natural phenomena yet remains incomplete. Vector-like quarks (VLQs) lie at the heart of many extensions to the SM seeking to address the hierarchy prob- lem. VLQs could be produced either singly or in pairs, and then decay to a SM boson and a third-generation quark. While single-production depends on the coupling of the VLQ to the SM particles, pair-production via the QCD interaction provides a model-independent test for VLQs. This talk presents a search for pair- produced VLQs that decay into a W boson and a bottom quark, with one W decaying leptonically while the other decays hadronically. The analysis uses b-tagging algorithms, charge asymmetry metrics, multiple on- line triggers, and data driven corrections of the ttbar and W+jets background Monte Carlo samples to improve sensitivity during the analysis of the full LHC Run 2 ATLAS dataset.